The present disclosure relates to a method of locating a flooring element, and in particular concerns a method of easily pressing flooring elements into position in confined spaces and with minimal equipment.
When laying a floor composed of flooring elements or boards having substantially rectangular cross sections, it is desirable to force each newly-laid board against the adjacent previously-laid boards to locate the new board properly. Conventionally, this is achieved by the use of a device which is positioned over the leading edge of a newly-laid board, and which is adapted to drive a nail through the side of the board and into the supporting surface beneath in a diagonal direction. The device includes a protruding surface which, when struck with a hammer or other suitable large object, drives the nail through the board and supporting surface. It will be appreciated that the force of the driving of the nail into the side of the board pushes the newly-laid board up against the previously-laid adjacent boards, and the passage of the nail into the supporting surface beneath secures the board in this position. The driving of the nail into a side surface of the board also means that the head of the nail, or the hole made by the nail, are not visible on the top surface of the board once the floor has been completely laid.
There are, however, drawbacks associated with this technique. For instance, the device used to drive nails through newly-laid boards is typically rather bulky and heavy, and awkward to transport from one site to another or move around a room while a floor is laid therein.
In addition, it will be appreciated that, as the laying of a floor nears completion, the wall of the room adjacent the part of the supporting surface which has not yet had boards laid thereon will inhibit the swinging of a hammer against the protruding surface of the device, thus making operation of the device awkward or ineffective.
It has been proposed to locate flooring elements by bracing two substantially wedge-shaped elements between a newly-laid flooring element and a fixed opposing surface (e.g. a wall). The wedge elements are oriented so that their respective narrow ends point in opposite directions, and one of the wedge elements is then driven in a direction passing from the wider end thereof to the narrow end thereof. As this occurs, the wall and the newly-laid flooring element are driven apart, but since the wall is solidly fixed the net result will simply be the movement of the newly-laid flooring element.
It has been found, however, that substantial amounts of friction are generated using this method, thus resulting in short life-spans for the wedge-shaped components, and the requirement to expend a relatively large amount of effort in driving the wedge-shaped member.
As such, it would be desirable to provide a method and apparatus to substantially alleviate some or all of the above difficulties.